


Into the unknown

by Kisshufan4ever



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders Being Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders Needs a Hug, Hurt Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:33:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24542398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kisshufan4ever/pseuds/Kisshufan4ever
Summary: Being the unloved brother had many downsides, one of which was the crippling pain that came with Thomas trying to repress him fun!
Comments: 22
Kudos: 85





	1. Chapter 1

Remus wasn’t like the other sides, and not just in the way you’d imagine. See, being one half of a whole idiot did have its drawbacks. Well being the one who wasn't all sunshine and rainbows did. 

You see, Remus was the unloved brother. He wasn’t given his own room (he had to make one himself in the imagination after 2 months of waiting on a very uncomfortable couch for his own to spawn, Janus could only put up with so much of his weirdness in the mornings after all.) 

He didn’t get to play happy families with the lights. (Not like he needed daddy Patton trying to censor big scary Remus with his dangerous thoughts and naughty language.) 

The cherry on top of the shit Sunday known as his life was that he had the delightful problem of spontaneously glitching out of existence. At least that’s what he likened it to. Not like he had anyone around to prove it.

You see the nerd was right, repression was bad and it hurt like a bitch, and not in a nice getting you off kind of way. It’s like your whole being is being ripped apart atom by atom until *poof* there was nothing left. The added fun was that he got to do the whole thing in reverse when he snapped back. Joy!

And maybe since Janus got accepted and practically lived up stairs shilling his self care routine like a Karen with a pyramid scheme, it may or may not have gotten a tiny bit worse. Well at least on the bright side Remus now had free reign of the dark side, oh what fun he could have!

A chandelier made of bones and entrails sounded perfect, boring old snakey wouldn’t let him touch the common room. Something about them all having to share the space and gore not being to their taste. What a bore!  


Maybe he could replace all the furniture covers with human skin? Explosions, lots of explosions, ooh, or maybe a zombie out break? Always a good time, the world was his oyster and he would gladly rip it open and expose its gooey insides.

There was one minute detail that may or may not have cropped up lately, the teensy weensy problem of not being able to properly use his powers. They were kinda on the fritz. Sure, he could use them ... to an extent. The results, however, varied on whether what he wanted to summon was actually what he intended to summon.

Plus, there was a little extra bonus that came with utilising his powers too much; he got to take a lovely impromptu 24 hour nap. Oh, and the aforementioned excruciating pain that would kick in the moment that he woke up.

Another absolutely delightful drawback was the fact that, with no true outlet, the thoughts were getting a bit out of hand. He was used to creating everything that popped into his brain, not having to pick or choose between ideas. It started to feel like tiny ants were dancing round his grey matter trying to gnaw their way out of his skull.

Remus swore it was like an illegal rave in the dark side when the glitching started, with all the flashing lights. Maybe he should conjure up a DJ, oh a zombie dj and if it got to excited maybe his arms would fly of and hit him in the face hah. Then his DJ could help Remus fight his zombie brethren. Ooh, they could get a t-shirt cannon. Remus had always wanted a t-shirt cannon. Or maybe a t-shirt that was a cannon ... this would totally be worth the pain and, hey, free nap!

Bad bad idea Remus, whelp at least if he died this time it would be with his kick ass song in the background as his new zombie dj shot civilians right in the face with highspeed t-shirts. 

Turns out, maybe a DJ was not worth it in the long run. He didn’t even know how long he was out for, he wasn’t exactly known for his time keeping. As the world slowly came back into focus Remus started to regret his life choices.  


Well, if he feels like shit, may as well cause the light sides some havoc. That always cheers him right up.

Heaving his aching body off the floor, he proceeded to pop up in Thomathy’s living room, where he was promptly greeted by the sight of the other sides working through this week’s drama. With ample bickering, you know, the usual.

“Am I too late to join the party?” He cackled, crawling out from inside the Tv. Samara would be proud!

“Great you’ve summoned the Duke.” Virgil scowls, crossing his arms like the lovable teenage dirt bag that he was.

“Aww you know that you love me emo." Grinning, with a little wave, he turns to Thomas, who looks about ready to have a heart attack.

“ Now we’re all together again, I vote that we should all have an orgy. That’ll get everyone talking. I mean, what better way to give your viewers a good sex education than that?” 

The deafening cries of “God no, why would you even say that, I cannot get the image out of my brain, we’re all sides of his personality, how would that even work? " Was almost drowned out by his maniacal laughter.

“Remus. Enough." Janus did not look happy to see him. (It didn't hurt Remus at all.)

“Cant I have a little fun with Thomas without you guys being party poopers?” He pouted.  


“We’re trying to have a serious discussion about Thomas’ mental health, you may stay present as his wellbeing effects us all, but please keep the distractions to a minimum.” Logan states adjusting his tie “Now Thomas let’s try this again how do you ....” 

Remus had drowned them out at this point, he wasn’t sure why he was bothered by the looks of disgust on the others’ faces. It was his whole shtick to pop up, blurt out something that makes the others squirm, then leave. He wasn’t supposed to be nice, his whole being was wired to be intrusive.

So, in defiance for the lack of appreciation shown towards his brilliant idea, he tried even harder to distract Thomas. Making the lights flicker, screaming ,harassing his brother (he should have knocked him out again, that was a good time), and trying to make Patton flinch as much as possible until...

“REMUS!” Janus yells and, well, Janus never yells. He had seen him furious plenty of times - usually after an unsuccessful pranking attempt - but no matter how mad he had been, how much he looked like he was gonna explode, he had never actually yelled at Remus. Until now.

Freezing in place, he slowly takes in the room, as if seeing it for the first time. Logan was trying to console Virgil who was on the edge of a panic attack. Patton was starting to look green though, whether he was stress frogging again or just feeling sick Remus couldn’t tell. He was tempted to keep prodding until one scenario or the other happened, until he remembered what had made him pause his tirade. His eyes flickered over to Janus.

“Remus leave.” He didn’t even yell this time, it was more of an exasperated plea, but it was like some one had shoved there hand through Remus’ chest in order to squeeze his heart.  


“Bu...” He didn’t have a chance to get the word out before...

“No Remus” with the tone of a parent that had had this conversation a million times previous.  


“We gave you a chance to stay up here. If you had behaved at least a little bit, maybe you could have stayed. We’re now back at square one because of you and your antics. He could practically see the venom drip from his words. 

“Brother... you’ve done enough for one day.” Roman sighed. Remus hadn’t even noticed his twin standing next to Thomas, a comforting hand on the shaking man’s shoulder.

Then he felt it as soon as Thomas looked up at him, he knew what was going to happen. “I’m sorry Re but .....”

Like a coward Remus sunk out before hearing his host tell him how much he hates him, how little his contributions were valued. How he was nothing more then a disease plaguing his life. 

And then the pain arrived. Collapsing to his knees as his body convulsed and sputtered, he could see his arms going in and out of transparency. Distantly, he could almost make out his screams over the roaring in his ears like a television left playing behind a thick pane of glass.

The attacks had never lasted this long before. He couldn’t think, couldn’t move, as shock waves of pain rattled his body to the core. He wanted to beg and cry for mercy though his voice had long since faded out.

He didn’t have a grasp on how long he was stuck there. It could have been days, weeks, months. Time had no meaning under the onslaught, but eventually his arms slipped out from under him, resulting in his head bouncing off the wooden floor of the living room.  


At last, the darkness rolled over him, like the black clouds of an oncoming storm.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to my sister mewsugarpudd for beta reading this. It would be a hit ness without her.

Remus's entire body felt like he had jumped off a high rise and was then promptly hit by a truck. He was still sprawled out in an undignified heap, with barely the strength to heave his aching muscles into any semblance of movement. 

It was one of the only times in his entire existence that Remus wanted to cry. He knew, theoretically, that he should get off of the floor, however, his arms were pinned under him and he didn’t have the energy to wiggle them free.  
Choking back a sob, the weary Duke made the decision to attempt to roll on to his back.

He soon regretted said choice when the light started to assault his vision. Everything was far too bright, colours danced across his vision. Moaning in pain, he took stock of the situation.

The smell of blood was permeating the air making him feel nauseous which, given the fact he was often coated in blood, was strange, although he guessed the fact that it wasn’t usually his own blood had something to do with why this time was different.

Remus desperately tried to cover his eyes from the onslaught of the fluorescent light bulb, with very little success. None of his limbs wanted to cooperate, dragging bodies through mud was an easer task then just twitching his arms at that moment. He refused to acknowledge the tears trailing down his face. The Duke did not cry. Period. 

After an uncomfortable time, of who knows how long, which he spent lying prone on the floor, Remus finally managed to somewhat get his body back under control. Wincing, and biting his lip so hard it drew blood, Remus slowly attempted to stand.

The world span with a kaleidoscope of colours, and it took all of his power not to heave what was left in his stomach across the floor. To add to the cacophony of misery, hunger had started to set in. He couldn’t remember when he had last ate anything.

Remus opened his eyes once again; not even remembering when he'd shut them. In the cracked TV screen, he caught his own reflection.

Though distorted, the Duke could tell that he looked terrible. It wasn't even in his usual trash man way. Under his eyes was a thick layer of black, darker than usual to the point were it almost matched Virgil’s during the worst of his anxiety attacks. Not to mention the thick trail of dried blood caked under his nose where his head had smashed into the ground. Great.

His joints ached in protest as he set off in the direction of his room, only to discover that the door to the imagination was no longer there. There was nothing to even show that a door had once resided in the wall.

That’s when he noticed that Janus’ room was also missing, leaving behind only a replica of Thomas’ living room and kitchen.

Shit. Near frantically, Remus tried in vain to summon his morning star in order to smash the wall down. He tried over and over again until he nearly passed out once again, but nothing happened.

Remus was panicking, he couldn’t summon anything.

Suddenly, his stomach gave out a loud, almost painful rumble, once again giving him the lovely reminder that he hadn’t eaten in quite a while, which was exactly what he needed when in the midst of a crisis.

Could sides die? Was he going to lay here in the ruins of the dark side until some brave travellers find his decomposing remains being feasted on by rats? 

Think Remus, think, he ordered himself, but well that was easier said than done when his thoughts were spiralling so out of control that he half expected Virgil to pop up and tell him to fuck off and stop stealing his job.

Ok the first thing on his to do list was to get the crusted blood off of his face and to see if his nose was broken. Stumbling his way into the kitchen, he turned the cold tap on full and grabbed a ream of paper towels with which he began furiously dabbling at his face. Not the best method of injury care, but Remus wasn’t exactly thinking straight at that point (or ever).

Though he could at least confirm that his nose wasn’t broken, which was always a bonus. Broken bones were so much more fun when they weren’t his own.

With that task completed, Remus had to try and figure out what to do next? Food, he needed food. Theoretically, sides didn’t need to eat but, well, Thomas still thought of them like they were real people and real people needed sustenance. Thus the sides needed to eat something at least once a day in order to keep their energy up. Or, that's what Remus assumed, he wasn’t sure exactly what would happen as Dee had never let him get that far in order to find out.

He guessed that he was probably gonna find out soon if the near empty cupboards were anything to go by. One mouldy loaf of bread though was better than nothing, he had eaten worse, and a who knows how old jar of crofters would be the perfect accompaniment. Delightful.

Meal procured he exercised the tiny bit of self control he had not to slam it straight down his throat. As much as he liked disgusting things there was no way in hell he was going to put up with the stench of vomit for an un told amount of time. Even Remus had some standards thank you very much.

After finishing his rations for the day, boredom started to kick in fast. He couldn’t summon anything to draw or paint, and no morning star meant no smashing up the furniture. At this point, he’d take watching Roman’s sappy rom coms over the oppressive sense of inactivity that was taking over. He so regretted breaking the Tv last week, Deceit hadn’t let him replace it as punishment (the Snake didn’t like missing out on his shows, but would be willing to suffer if it taught Remus a lesson. That lesson hadn’t sunk in until this point. Dee would probably laugh himself silly if Remus ever saw him again to tell him.)

First, he tried yelling as many song lyrics that he could think of, however, his voice was still shot from the whole being ripped to shreds thing, so that was pretty much a no go.  
He could always use his blood to paint with but Janus had banned him from all sharp objects indefinitely after he ‘accidentally’ got several large knives lodged into his body. It had taken Jan the best part of 3 hours and several near deaths to remove them and stitch him up.  
And, well, he also healed slowly. Don’t get him wrong, he healed super fast when compared to a regular human, but in sides (ha insides) terms, it took him an eternity. The joy of being creativity was that injuries tended to linger as it was hard to turn off the imaginative flow. 

Fatal wounds were never fatal, the hero could never die when Roman was in charge after all (the thought of such bland happy ever afters made Remus gag, or maybe it was the after effect of slamming his head into the ground after a complete meltdown), but anything else tended to stick around for the drama. It was a bitch waiting for them to heal, getting them disinfected blah blah blah.

Princey had wanted to keep it so that if he was ever mortally wounded in battle he could miraculously survive and sweep in later to save the day despite the injuries. He thought it made him look more heroic.

Yet, for some god forsaken reason the rule also applied to Remus. 

As the other dark sides got the joy of witnessing when he had been curious about what it would feel like if you disembowelled yourself, the slow healing was not a good time for anyone involved. Remus could have sworn that Virgil had actually died inside when he'd shown up asking for help with half his intestines hanging out. God it was one of the few times he genuinely thought that either   
Virgil or Dee were going to kill him for real.   
So, yeah, Remus had long since decided that if he was going to freak the light sides out with body horror, it was easier to use illusions instead, for the things that would take forever to heal anyway. This didn’t apply to harming the lights of course, seeing as Logan had always had the ability to shake most wounds off using logic. 

The illusion method meant that there was a lot less nagging at him from Janus to take better care of himself as well.

Janus needed to chill out with that self care bullshit. Sometimes, self care was a duke with a sharp pointy object trying to figure out how many organs he actually needed to survive.  
Well, Remus was still bored. Maybe he should try and send some beautiful x rated thoughts upstairs. Perhaps they’d summon him to yell about it and he’d be freed from his prison.  
Scurrying up to the wall that backed on to the light side’s common area on all fours, he started yelling. Well, more like whispering, but hey, it added to the creep factor! Plus, with food in his stomach, he'd mustered up the energy to start banging on the wall too. 

One of his lovely little thought waves must have struck a nerve because one minute the Duke was trying to make the most horrifying melody possible and then the next he was yet again withering on the floor in agony.   
“Fuck!” Remus yelled the profanity with as much vocal strength as his battered throat would allow him.

This attack wasn’t as long as the last thankfully and he seemingly hadn’t phased out of reality this time. Remus desperately tried to catch his breath as the pain slowly dulled. Leaning heavily against the door, Remus glanced down at his arms. He jerked back, eyes near bulging out of his sockets as he took in the new semi-transparent appearance of his limbs.

“Shit." He muttered to himself. This was really, really bad. He had no clue what the hell was going on. Now, the Duke had seen sides fade before, it was one of the joys of belonging to the cast off crew, but it had been nothing like this. 

Hopelessness was starting to seep into his mind. Letting his head thump against the door, he waited, although he didn’t know what exactly he was expecting to happen. The aftershocks were still rattling his body, but his arms were slightly more opaque now, which was a plus. However, they were still noticeably more translucent than they should be.   
He continued sitting in grim silence until he felt a sudden tug. 

Was Remus being summoned? He couldn’t really remember ever being properly summoned before. He usually turns up uninvited, gives Thomas some juicy intrusive thoughts to mull over, and then skidoodly doos back down to the dark side's lair.

That was the extent to which his contributions would normally be tolerated. If he lingered too long, one of the others would find a way to force him back down. It was much more pleasant to go on his own terms, then to endure some of the methods employed by the others to remove him from the situation.   
Maybe this time they could feel that something was wrong in the mindscape. Maybe they would fix him if it would help stabilise everything else.

Yes! Remus was going to be saved. Almost giddily, Remus tried his best to make himself look less like he had spent 48 hours on the floor, and more like he had intentionally crawled out of a dumpster. A trash man he may be, but the Duke had his own standards to live by.

Clapping his hands together at the thought of getting some help with his current problem, he allowed the rug to pull him out of the mindscape, and appeared once again in the middle of a heated debate between the other sides. 

“Ah, Roman, you're finally here.” Logan sounded exasperated at the situation, which was his typical reaction to their regularly scheduled chaos.

Oh. Oh. They’d summoned Roman and, he had piggybacked off of the call for his twin. Well, Remus wasn’t complaining. At least it had got him out off the pit. (It did not feel like he’d been sucker punched at all.)

Roman, as per the norm, was giving a grand princely speech that would no doubt make everything worse until someone eventually caved to his grandiose schemes. Of course, this was a perfect time for Remus to strike.

Letting out an ungodly wail, Remus launched himself at his twin. Only, he didn’t make physical contact. It seemed as if the prince had somehow managed to sidestep him without even looking, even though Remus was pretty certain that his attack would hit dead on. 

Nobody had said anything about his display hell either, hell, no one had even made eye contact with him. Maybe they were trying to ignore him again. Well no one could blank the Duke and get away with it! 

Remus made a beeline for Patton next, trying to tug on his hair and hoodie. One of them must have found a way to make objects impervious to the Duke's touch, which was a strange concept, but he wouldn’t put it past the petty priss Patton to employ one of the others to figure it out. In retaliation, Remus decided to whisper as many disgusting things and spider facts that he could think of in the moral side's ear, but Morality kept on with his conversation like he wasn’t being assaulted.

Why was no one noticing him? He tried Virgil next, but yet again there was no reaction.   
Remus tamped down on the strange feeling of worry that was infiltrating his stomach, and replaced it with anger instead. Anger was a lot easier for Remus to manage in this scenario.

“Haha, very funny. You can stop ignoring me now, I’m not going away any time soon Thomathy." Remus declared, ramping up his assault on the others.

Still, nada. Sighing in annoyance, Remus noticed something else odd. 

As this argument wasn’t part of a sides video, Thomas hadn’t covered any of the reflective surfaces that he would normally move away to prevent any problems with the filming set-up. As such, Remus was able to spot something... well, more like the lack of something. He couldn’t see himself at all.

Vaulting over Virgil and taking the stairs way too many at a time, he flung himself into Thomas’s bathroom. Please be a fluke, please be a fluke was the prayer repeated in his head as he skidded across the floor. With trepidation, he glanced into the mirror placed above the sink. No reflection peered back at him.   
He stumbled back down the stairs as if he were in a trance. Then reality truly set in which was followed swiftly by complete blind panic.

“This isn’t a very good prank guys, it’s soooo boring and needs more pizzazz if you know what I mean." Remus rambled as he slid across the floor and flung himself at his host.   
The other sides continued to waffle on as if they totally hadn’t heard him. Frantic now, Remus began trying again to get their attention. Poking and prodding at them gave him the same result, not a single flicker of awareness came from anyone else, and not a single object reacted either.

Okay, okay, it was time for him to return to the basics. The lovely horror cliché of turning the lights on and off had to work. Flickery lights worked for everyone. 

He also had to walk all the way over to the switch, and considering the fact that his body still ached all over and he was still hungry enough to eat another side if he could actually touch them, the damn trope had better work for him as well.

On, off, on, off in rapid succession, that’s all he needed to do. Except, it wasn’t working. Where was Spongebob's Nosferatu when Remus needed him. 

Remus was now vibrating with stress. If he was some sort of strange ghost, he refused to be the type of shitty spirit that couldn’t even flip a light on and off. Remus was full of poltergeist potential. He was the most poltergeist-y person that he knew. 

A light would not defeat him. He refused to be that pathetic. It. Would. Work!  
After an eternity, in his mind, of scrabbling at a stupid switch, it finally moved. The living room lights flashed enough to catch the attention of the resident stickler for all things order.

“Thomas, you should really get that light bulb changed soon. It isn’t safe to rely on a bulb like that. This would also be a great opportunity to try out those energy saving bulbs we looked at last time, but that were passed up when Roman saw, and I quote ‘the most fabulously fluorescent lights a prince could ever dream of'.” Logan sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he glanced wearily at their host.

“Yeah, those bulbs did promise to be much better for the environment. And the strobe effect is starting to give me a migraine. ” Thomas nearly whintd out the last part in frustration, rubbing his knuckles against his temple.

The rest of the sides chimed in with their no doubt 20 step plan on how to change said bulb, but the actual words were kind of muffled. Why was everything now in slow mo? Was this some kind of challenge that Remus had missed? Was it part of this weirdly convoluted and drawn out prank?

Dropping to the floor, he barely recognised the feeling of this knees hitting the ground despite the occurrence being kind of common lately. Why were they not helping him? Why weren’t they even looking at him? Was he really that much of a pest that the others would leave him huddled up in a ball of agony, rather than interrupt today’s drama?

Oh god, it hurt. It always did, but he had yet to get used to it. Letting out a whimper, the Duke curled further into himself as the full fury of the attack hit him.

Head thrown back with and with tear filled eyes, he screamed and begged for the others to stop ignoring him. Why wouldn’t they make it stop? Why wouldn’t they drop the prank? He couldn’t do this, god he couldn’t do this.   
It was too much, everything was too much. As his vision tunneled, he took in a final look at the rest of the sides laughing as whatever   
argument they’d been having was resolved. 

What Remus didn’t notice as everything faded, was the logical side looking back at him with a puzzled expression. As if he could see him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait guys I struggled with this chapter this is like its 8th incarnation 😂 once again thanks to mewsugarpudd for beta reading there would be far fewer punctuation without her.

It had been strange in the mind Palace lately, though Logan could not put his finger on what exactly was out of place. He had gone over every possible solution. Was Thomas coming down with an illness? Were they getting too over worked like Janus was always fretting about? 

Nothing was seemingly amiss and yet there was something not quite right. Sighing in frustration, the logical side rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly. It was too quiet was the consensus that Logan had come to. Sure, the others were still mindlessly bickering over trivial matters, yet the whole atmosphere was off. As if someone, or something, was missing.

Which had to be factually inaccurate. Logan, had an excellent memory, he would surely recall whatever was missing before it became a problem.

He was brought out of his musings by a knock on the door. Guessing what it was probably about, Logan finally unstuck himself from the desk chair. Figuratively, of course.

“Logan, dinner’s ready.” Patton called as he continued to make his rounds down the hall. Summoning the rest of his brood.

Adjusting his tie, the logical side made his way into the kitchen, which was shortly filled by the rest of the rabble who, as usual, were once again having a semi heated debate. Over what, Logan didn’t particularly care. (Not like they’d listen to him if he decided to weigh in on the conversations anyway.)

Glancing round the room as he picked at his food, Logan couldn’t help but notice something odd. 

“Did you edit the common room Roman?” He asked, squinting in puzzlement at the offending room.

“No of course not nerdy Wolverine, you know I have to keep it neutral.” The Prince rolled his eyes, waving his cutlery about and narrowly missing hitting Janus with food.

Honestly, his table manners were almost as bad as his brothers... Brother, brother Roman has a brother? Why couldn’t he think of the side’s name? He glanced frantically around the room for inspiration. Time seemed almost to slow as he tried to work out the pieces of the puzzle.

“You almost took my eye out Princey!” Someone yelled at Roman’s ever grand hand gestures.

Eyes? Eyeballs, eyeballs! Ok why was this important? Logan needed to think. Glancing down at his half eaten meal, a colour popped out at him. GREEN, yes! Green, green, green. Eyeballs on a green sash. 

If he was another side, Logan would have started tearing his hair out in frustration at this point. Wait, Roman. He had already ascertained that this supposed missing side was his twin. Wasn’t there a tale about how Rome was formed with a pair of twins, one of whom was Romulus? Then it clicked. 

Remus, the side’s name was Remus, the other half of creativity, and said other half was normally causing some type of chaos right about now.

“Has anyone seen Remus lately?” Logan finally inquired when the others’ conversation started to lull.

“Who?” Patton asked, a look of confusion on his face.

“The duke, one half of creativity. Are you feeling quite alright Patton?” Logic asked 

“Do you need to sleep or something Teach, or are you trying to steal Princey's gig with the whole make believe stick ” Virgil chimed in.

“I can assure you I have had proper rest and Remus is not a figment of my imagination.” Logan was getting annoyed at this point.   
“Surely you would remember living with him for two decades Janus?”

“I have certainly never encountered a side by that name, are you sure that you're not mistaken Logan?” Dee questioned.

“I am quite sure that I am not mistaken in this Janus.” Logan just about refrained from rolling his eyes. 

“I’m pretty sure that I would remember if I had a brother Lo." Roman, as a less mature side, did not hold back his own eyeroll.

“Fine, if you're all acting so childish, I'll go check on him." He all but flounced off in the direction of the darkside.

As Logan approached, he suddenly realised what had looked out of place to him previously. The door to the others’ was gone. 

It was as if a door had never been there at all, a completely solid wall with no markings at all. He tried knocking on it but, as suspected, it was not hollow.

“What are you doing Logan?” Janus’ sarcastic drawl interrupted his contemplation.

“I’m trying to figure out how you have managed to get rid of the door.” 

“Logan, there’s never been a door there, are you sure you're feeling alright?” Janus looked baffled.

“Janus, you could tell if I was lying, and I clearly am not. There was a door there and a side named Remus.” Logan was getting real tired of people not listening to him.

“You of all sides should know that my powers don’t work quite like that.” Janus sighed. “If you’rw that worried, why don’t you go talk to Thomas. I’m sure that he would know if something was up.” 

Pondering this for a moment, Logan deemed it an acceptable solution. Nodding in thanks to Deceit, the logical side sunk out.

Glancing round the room, he couldn’t see any sign of his host entity. Exhaling deeply, and preparing to sink back out, his eyes caught on a crumpled figure in the corner. 

“Thomas!” Was his immediate reaction. Hurrying to what he thought was his host body, he drew closer and started to notice the smaller details of the outfit, almost as if the image was slowly coming back into focus. 

Black and green merged to form the top costume . “Remus!” Logan knelt down next to the unresponsive side.

Turning him onto his back, Logan could observe that there where no obvious external injuries.  
Tapping his cheek in an attempt to rouse the other, he was rewarded with a groan as the Duke started to come round.

Growing in pain, Remus slowly sat up and blinked owlishly at him. 

“Do you have any hidden injuries I should know about.” Logan asked, brow furrowed in concentration. 

“Other than a killer headache no...” Remus went stock still when the ramifications of the question sunk in.

“Wait.” You could practically hear the cogs in the dukes brain whir as he practically blue screened, processing that Logan had actually spoken to him.

“You can see me, can you actually see me?” The frantic sentence rushed out.

“Yes? Is there a reason that I wouldn’t?” Logan replied before he was promptly bowled over by a near sobbing Duke.

“Fuck this is real please say this is real."

“I can assure you were quite real, as much as a facet of someone’s personality can be anyway.’ Logan responded, trying to regain his composure, sliding the Duke off of him. “Why, may I ask, would you believe otherwise?” 

“No one could see me, last video I tried everything but you stubborn bastards wouldn’t react.” 

“Curious, I don’t remember you being present last time we talked to Thomas?”

“I was there I ...” Remus didn’t finish the sentence as he froze, eyes wide and breath hitched. Logan didn’t even have a chance to ask what was wrong before the Duke was doubled over, howling in apparent agony. 

All Logan could do was watch helplessly as the Duke convulsed on the floor in front of him. What the hell was going on?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait i took part in another fandom week and it completely drained me lol. I should of prepped the fics before hand and didn't writing 7 fics one after the other was a nightmare 🤣. Any way enough of my complaints, thank you to everyone who has commented or given me kudos this is the most love any of my fics have ever received and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. This fic will be finished if it kills me.

Logan sat and watched helplessly as the Duke convulsed on the floor in front of him.

He frantically sorted through Thomas’s memories in a bid to see if the man had ever picked up on what to do when someone was having a seizure. 

Cursing at the absence of any factually accurate hospital dramas that his host could have watched, his mental search came up empty. Logan sighed deeply, he’d have to wait for Remus to ride it out.

Hopefully nothing would cause permanent injury to the side.

Logan was all to aware of the ridiculous rule that the two halves of creativity lived by. Roman had been patched up on more than one occasion due to an injury that any other side would have recovered from instantly.

After 3 long minutes, the logical side noticed something quite alarming. The Duke’s body was starting to fade in and out, limbs becoming nearly transparent before snapping back to full opaqueness as if it had never happened.

Alarmed by this new twist, Logan could do nothing but watch on in fascinated horror as the man in front of him slowly glitched in and out of reality. 

Before he could come up with a solution, the ordeal stopped with the same startling abruptness with which it had begun. Logan was trying to think of the best course of action with which to proceed, when the Duke interrupted his thoughts by whimpering. 

“Remus?” He asked tentatively. The other side groaned in response.

Brown eyes squinted back at him as the Duke began coming round.

“Can you move?” Logan questioned, attempting to assess the situation.

Remus blinked back at him.

“I think so.” He mumbled, slowly sitting up despite the discomfort that was clear on his face.

Now that the seizing had stopped, Logan could take better stock of Remus's condition. The Duke looked terrible, skin paler than Logan had ever seen it and dark circles under his eyes. Remus looked absolutely exhausted.

The two sides stared at each other for a moment, Logan in deep concentration and the Duke desperately waiting on some kind of verdict.

“Have these seizure ever happened before?”

“All the time.” Remus groaned out in response.

“Are the attacks always that intense? Logan summoned a clipboard as he started taking notes.

“They’ve gotten stronger lately.” Remus shrugged, feigning disinterested as he picked at the bottom of his shirt.

It was a testament to how much of a toll these episodes were having on him that he had been answering Logan’s questions in a straight forward manner with no off topic thoughts making an appearance.

Logan knew that the next question would probably cause the other side distress, but he needed all the facts in order to solve this problem. Unfortunately, the question needed to be asked.

“Are you aware that the others seemingly don’t remember you?” Logan queried.

The duke froze, eyes wide as they met Logan’s.  
“They don’t?” He whispered, panic overtaking his expression.

Logan nodded before responding.

“I inquired about your whereabouts at breakfast this morning. The others implied that I was imagining your presence. I take it this is a new revelation then?”

“That can’t be good,” the Duke rises shakily to his feet before frantically pacing around the living room. “I don’t know what’s happening Logan, the dark side is pretty much gone, I can’t summon anything properly and...”

Logan, now also standing, made his way over to where the Duke was still pacing.

“You need to breathe Remus.” He stated, watching as the other side got more and more worked up.

“Can you recall the breathing tactics that we use whenever Virgil is in distress?”

After receiving a nod in response, Logan slowly began walking Remus through the exercises until Remus’ breathing evened out.

“What’s happing Lo?” Remus asked exhaustion evident in his tone. His panic attack had clearly taken a lot out of him, especially due to his weakened state.

“Based on the facts that you have provided me with, it would appear that Thomas has been trying to repress you more harshly now that he is aware of your presence, correct?” Logan summarised what he knew of the current situation.

Remus nodded in agreement. 

“My theory is that Thomas is trying to dispose of his intrusive thoughts. But as a part of creativity, you control a lot more then just intrusive thoughts.” Logan paused to make sure Remus was keeping up.

“What does me being creativity have to do with anything?” Remus’ brow furrowed in concentration.

“My hypothesis is that the glitching effect has to do with the fact that Thomas is trying to actively repress one part of you. Yet another part is also trying to subconsciously keep your other core functions intact, the ones that Thomas still view as necessary.” Logan adjusted his glasses before continuing.

“You’re essentially stuck in a figurative tug of war between Thomas, who is scared of the parts of you that have been deemed as ‘bad’, and self preservation who knows that Thomas could not function as the man he currently is without you.” Logan wished he could mic drop at the end of his speech but had been rather rudely informed by Princey that that meme was now dead.

“So Thomathy is trying to tear me in two again?” Remus intoned, like a man condemned to death.

“Similar, yes, but not quite the same. I’m unsure of how much you remember from before the split. What I have gathered was that you and Roman formed as two separate sides whilst still being physically one. Then, your conflict of ideas caused the split. I haven’t gathered enough evidence to fully support this theory however.” 

“Seems close enough to what I’ve heard from Jan,” Remus acknowledged. “I don’t remember much from being the king. So, is there gonna be two Remuses running round now because I do not want to share the imagination with a third person.” 

“No. From what I’m speculating, Thomas is trying to destroy all the parts of you that he designates as immoral. If he was to succeed in this task, you would presumably cease to exist and the parts of your existence that he regards as useful would go to another side. This would most likely Roman.” 

“So Thomas is going to kill me and use my spare parts to make Roman better!” The Duke looked furious.

“This is all, of course, hypothetical. You stated that you could no longer access the dark side, does this include your room as...” Logan was cut off.

“I never had a room Teach.” Remus piped up, with a look that Logan had never seen on his face before.

“What do you mean you’ve never had a room, all sides have one, it’s essential for our jobs.” Logan was taken aback by this thought.

“Yeah, well, Thomas never deigned me worth one. I crashed on the couch or in the imagination most if the time.” Remus ground out.

Seeing as the Duke, though now slightly more animated than before, still looked like he’d keel over at any minute Logan moved the conversation along for the moment.

“Can you sink into our common room? You’re well aware that we can’t stay outside of Thomas for to long.” 

Waiting for answer, Logan noticed a look of pain cross the other sides’ face and then Remus shook his head miserably.


End file.
